Incandescence
by howlsatthemoon
Summary: A love that lasts a lifetime squeezed into one summer. She hates how whenever something feels so right to her, it appears wrong to everyone else. / In which Dominique is forgotten. Dom/Scorpius.


_Disclaimer: I own nothing_.

So I'm trying this new thing where I "expand my horizons" and _don't _write only Lily/Teddy.

To clear up (my own) confusion, Dominique is one year younger than Scorpius. I imagine that she would be probably five years younger than Victoire, and it says Victoire was born either 2000 or 20o1 (I just chose 2000). So she's sixteen, Scorp is seventeen. However, it's the summer between Dom's sixth and seventh year (meaning she's turning seventeen soon) and the summer after Scorp's seventh year. (And because writing this fic is an intervention to try to lessen my obsession with Lily/Teddy, I can't help but inform you that Lils is fourteen and Teddy twenty-five.)

_Listen to_: August is Over by We the Kings.

-;-

incandescence

_we were careless hearts  
__who got caught up in this_

(We the Kings.)

x

**JUNE**

So she's always been the _different _one in the family. With strawberry-blonde hair and deep blue eyes, thin red lips and freckle-less cheeks, she stood out in the midst of orange heads and chocolate brown eyes. Her loud demeanor made her unapproachable; her perfection made her seem the most flawed of all of them.

Next to younger, quiet, artistic Louis and older, gorgeous, popular Victoire, she was imperfect.

He loved that about her.

x

The summer of 2022 is hot and dreary. The skies lay cloudless; the trees are still without the usual breeze to push them. Dominique Weasley sits, her tight t-shirt sticky against her skin. "I'm _hungry,_" she whines, finishing plaiting Roxanne's long, dark red hair and letting it fall against her cousin's back. "Let's get something to _eat, _God."

Lily rolls her eyes irritably, sitting up straight and looking at her fingernails. "Do you _ever_ stop thinking about food? Jesus, Dom."

"Oh, shut it, Potter," Dominique snaps, her stomach's growls finally getting the best of her. "I don't know what you guys are waiting for, but I'm going downstairs to eat. Rose is a fantastical cook, and I'm not going to let this summer go to waste without eating her crap every day. 'Snot like I'll be spending my holidays anywhere else than here-I still can't believe that Mum and Dad would just up and go to France to visit Aunt Gabs and Uncle Charlie and just leave us _here_! I mean, it's just, what is Paris without Louis muttering, 'sacre bleu' every five seconds? Without Vic keeping compact mirrors in her purse? Without _me_ eating everything in sight?"

Roxanne sighs, gazing at Dominique's stick-thin arm enviously. "I wish I could eat anything I want and still have your figure, Dom. You're so lucky."`

"Shut it!" the girl grumbles again. "At least you've got _curves_!" Lily snickers, and Roxanne rolls her eyes. They both know, as good as anyone, that without Victoire to compare to, Dominique was the prettiest of the Weasley girls. "Whatever. I'm going down to eat. Screw you two. All the adults are gone and without Uncle Ron, I'll have all the food to myself. Adios, suckers!"

"Don't say we didn't warn you!" Roxanne calls after her as Dominique bounds down the rickety steps leading downstairs. "Scorpius Malfoy's down there, and he and Rose're probably supporting teenage pregnancy right this minute!"

The young girl barely has time to ask in her head, _Who the hell is Scorpius Malfoy_?, before she crashes into a wiry chest, light red hair colliding with white blond, tanned arms tangling around pale muscles as somebody grips her waist firmly to keep her from bashing her head in on the wooden floor. "Bloody hell!" Dominique cries as she finds herself uncomfortably chest-to-chest with an unfamiliar, flushed-faced boy, smirking. "Watch where you're going. Who the hell are you?"

"Nice to meet you, too," he says slowly. They stand for seconds before realizing their suspicious proximity, and Dominique steps away quickly, blushing deeply. "Scorpius. Ah, Rose's boyfriend. I'm here for the summer. Who are _you_?"

She eyes him up and down, frowning. "None of your business," she replies coldly, folding her arms against her chest.

"I see we'll be great friends, then," Scorpius drawls sarcastically, his storm grey eyes rolling in annoyance. Suddenly, Rose's sweet voice makes them both jump away from each other instinctively as the petite auburn-haired girl comes into view.

Immediately, Scorpius grins widely and kisses her cheek. "I see you've met Dom," Rose assumes, glancing at both of them glaring at each other. She coughs awkwardly. "Dom, this is Scorpius, my boyfriend. Scorp, this is Dominique, my cousin. She's staying at my house for the summer, too." Rose looks at Dominique and smiles. "I baked sugar cookies, your favourite. They're on the table in the kitchen."

"Thanks, Rose," Dominique says gently, sending a dark look at Scorpius before hopping the rest of the stairs and strolling towards the kitchen door. She can feel dark eyes following her.

Behind her, she hears Rose's confused voice as the couple converse. "What was that all about? Did Dom say something mean?"

"No, no," Scorpius' deep, smooth voice replies, a bit puzzled. "She just… gave me a… warm welcome."

She'll never admit it, but Dominique cracks a smile.

x

At breakfast the next day, Uncle Ron sits with his arms crossed, only grunting and mumbling to indicate whether he needs more orange juice or he wants the eggs passed to him. Rose switches from talking loudly about irrelevant things, battling the tension in the room head-on, and sitting in stony silence, avoiding her father's eyes. Victoire sits with bed-head and bad breath, looking impossibly beautiful (as usual). Hugo discusses Quidditch scores with Louis, ignoring the rest of the family's antics. Aunt Hermione chatters nervously, trying to make up for the awkward stillness in the room with annoying, nervous babbling.

Only two people sit comfortably, not speaking. In front of her, Scorpius stares unblinkingly, testing her cool composure. She refuses to look up and meet his eyes, knowing that it would mean loss to whatever contest they're holding right now. One thing about Dominique Apolline Weasley: she _loathes_ losing.

"Dominique, would you _please_ pass the potatoes?" Scorpius asks finally, his voice polite, but Dominique can already see the sneer on the boy she's despised for a day. She has two choices: refuse vigorously and appear rude to her family (who already thinks she's not the nicest character in the book) or _lose_.

"Never!" Dominique growls back, and stuffs her fork into one of the potatoes, stuffing it into her mouth and chewing on it very unattractively, watching Scorpius' amused expression.

Outside the little episode, the family falls into ice and stare as a _something_ begins.

x

Dominique lays in the room she's sharing with Rose, the open window and her skimpy outfit not doing anything to relinquish the hold summer heat has on her. Boredom quickly takes over without companionship. The boys having gone to Uncle Harry's to play a game of Quidditch; Vic, Hermione, and most of her other female cousins have gone to town for shopping and groceries. Only herself, Rose, and Scorpius remain in the house, and God knows what _they're_ doing to occupy themselves.

Finally, in a bout of frustration, Dominique decides to walk to town and join her cousins, sister, and aunt. As she pulls on decent clothes and runs a comb through her hair while walking through the humid hallways, she decides to stop by Rose's room and tell them of her decision. Pushing the already-cracked door, Dominique begins to say, "Hey, Rosie, I'm going to-" before stopping and screaming.

Scorpius, half-naked, stops dead and leaps off his girlfriend and almost to the other end of the room, red covering his usually white face. "This isn't what it looks like!" Rose squeaks quickly, pulling her discarded t-shirt over her head.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure it is, I mean, what else can it look like?" Scorpius protests sardonically, not looking at Dominique's blushing face.

"Let's try not to talk about what it looks like, yeah? That's a memory I'd rather not recall," Dominique interjects, staring at her blue flip-flops. Something angry bubbles in her stomach as the image of Rose wrapped around Scorpius pops into her head. She writes it off as hunger. "Just coming to tell you that I'm heading into town to catch up with the others. Don't leave the stove on, don't talk to strangers, always practice safe sex," she mumbles quietly before shutting the door in front of embarrassed faces, practically running out the door and away from them.

She doesn't talk to Scorpius for a week.

x

It's one of _those_ nights where you toss and turn in your bed, sweaty, haunting images behind your eyelids every time you close your eyes. Dominique wakes again after a five-minute sleep, gasping at the nightmares that play in the darkness of unconsciousness. Giving up, she stands up and pulls jeans on underneath her thin nightgown and opens the door cautiously, making sure Rose is still fast asleep before walking into the dark hallway blindly, her arms stretched out to feel her way. As she's begins to stagger down the stairs, she collides with something unknown and hard and strong (yet oh-so-familiar.) Instantaneously, she begins to struggle when long fingers grip her wrists and begin to wrestle her downstairs. Finally, a chocolate-scented hand flies over her open mouth and stops her screeching for a little while.

"Shut _up_," Scorpius' low voice murmurs in her ear, and she relaxes immediately for some reason. "Do you want to wake everyone up? More importantly, do you want to wake _Ron_ up?"

Regrettably admitting he was right, Dominique falls silent and they listen together for signs that the rest have woken. A slight creak sounds from Hermione and Ron's room, and unintelligent mumbles come from Hugo's bedroom, but other than that, the family is still unconscious. Silently, the two of them tip-toe down the stairs and into the kitchen, where a light is on and a cup of pumpkin juice is already sitting in the middle of the table.

"Can't sleep, either?" Scorpius asks politely, and Dominique shakes her head. "Yeah. There's pumpkin juice in the fridge. It's delicious."

As Dominique pours herself a glass and joins him at the table, it's soon realized that simply sitting and staring at each other whilst sipping pumpkin juice is not the most enjoyable middle-of-the-night activity.

"Why aren't you speaking to me?" Scorpius asks suddenly, examining the remaining orange liquid in his mug. "I've known you for all of a month, and you decide you hate me. What have I done to you? Enlighten me, Dom."

The girl's brow furrows and her pink lips form a pout. "Only my friends call me Dom," she argues, avoiding his original topic.

The blond rolls his eyes (it's becoming a habit, thanks to her) and then reaches out and smoothes his hand over her fingers. She flinches and snatches her hand back. "What if I want to be your friend, then?" he suggests. "I don't want to be your enemy, Dominique. If we're going to spend the summer together, we might as well be civil, _at least_. Please. Give me a chance. I'm not a total arsehole. Ask Rosie, she spent seven years figuring that out." He grins boyishly at whatever memory runs through his head as he looks at the ceiling. "In fact, she fell in love with me."

Dominique looks scandalized. "Well, what if I don't want to fall in love with you?" she splutters, faking gagging.

"Trust me, I bet we can find a way to avoid that, I promise," Scorpius says quickly, stifling a laugh before offering his light-skinned hand over the table. "So, truce, then?"

Hesitantly, Dominique's bronze hand joins his, their fingers intertwining and shaking before disbanding.

She smiles without feeling afraid of someone seeing for the first time in a while.

x

**JULY**

Lorcan Scamander comes to the house one day, hand-in-hand with Lucy while his brother and Molly bicker aimlessly. Her breath catches in her throat at the sight of the dirty-blond with cheeky moonlight eyes, her former best friend (her former heart-keeper.)

The one who always belonged to someone else.

She looks away when he passes by, his hand entangled with Lucy's. Scorpius catches the pain in her eyes, the hurt in her avoidance as the couple chats with Rose, making plans about something-or-other. When Lorcan regards Dominique about something, pressing on when she doesn't reply, Scorpius steps in-between them, protective and stiff-backed and glaring. "Leave her alone," he warns sternly, wrapping an arm around his new… _acquaintance_ and sending an apologetic look towards innocent Lucy before steering Dominique into the backyard, eyes following them (but they always do.)

"So, maybe I'm just happy that you hate someone other than me, but what's the deal with that-what's his name? Larry? Lordon?-guy? I dislike him already. Christ, you're rubbing off on me." Scorpius tries to implicate his usual teasing tone, but Dominique refuses to meet his eyes.

"He's… ah, an ex, sort of. We were never really together. He liked me, I didn't like him. I started to like him, and he found true love." She scoffs bitterly. "Whatever. It's not fair, Luce isn't even a bitch so I can't talk crap about her."

Scorpius grins then. "But Lorcan seems easy to rip on."

Dominique glances at him, her eyes bright. "You're not bad after all, are you, Malfoy?"

Somewhere, a promise breaks.

x

"Too many people call you 'Dom', Dom," Scorpius complains one day while Dominique has lunch with Rose and him. "I want a nickname only _I_ can call you."

Rose laughs lightly. "So, what, are you two best mates now, are you? Whatever happened to the Dom and Scorp who couldn't stand each other?"

Scorpius shrugs, his arm around Rose's shoulders casually. "They got smooth-talked by Scorpius Hypernion Malfoy, the smoothest talker of them all," he replies cockily.

"Or maybe poor Dom was groggy and didn't know what she was saying?" Dominique puts in, slapping the back of Scorpius' head playfully.

"Anyway, 'bout the nickname. I'm serious. What's something you wouldn't kill me for calling you that no one else calls you?" he asks firmly, his eyes concentrated. All of them think hard, their minds contemplating the nine letters of the strawberry-haired girl.

"Everyone seems to ignore the last half of 'Dominique'," Rose suggests finally, breaking the ice.

Scorpius' eyes narrow and then widen, his smile bright. "'Nique it is, then."

For the slightest second, Dominique grins, her face lighting up and her eyes innocent against the bright light of a July afternoon. And then her usual smirk is painted on and she adds, "Shall I call you 'Ius, then?"

x

She spends a night on the roof when her shared room is too small to be confined to. The moonlight illuminates her figure, lone and lonely on top of the large house, unnoticed beauty. Behind her, a window creaks as another body crawls onto the shingles, and she isn't surprised when the low voice greets her again.

"You like up here too, yeah?" Scorpius asks, laying on his back, closing his eyes against the sweet, rare breeze. "I love it here. If I could spend the whole summer up here, I would. My whole life, maybe. I could get married on this roof."

Dominique shrugs. "I wouldn't want to spend every day up here," she disagrees, turning and smiling at his handsome body, relaxed and appearing to be asleep. "This place is beautiful because it's rare. Because every time you come up, there's something new. Too much of a good thing, Scorp."

He opens his eyes and winks at her. "How 'bout this is our special, secret place, then?" he suggests. "Just for us. Just 'Nique and Scorp out here, summer-best-friends, eh?"

Dominique's cheeks color and she looks away, but her hand manages to find Scorpius and shove him over teasingly. "Alright then. But if you start calling it Narnia, I'll push your arse off this roof."

"So Terabithia's fine, then?" he jokes, and Dominique laughs out loud, her head leaning against his shoulder comfortably as her eyes drift closed.

"Whatever," she giggles, and she can't ignore the fact that she feels complete with her skin touching his, nothing but the night sky to accompany them.

x

It's dinnertime and Ron is still at work, spending extra time on a project with Harry in the Auror department, which leaves Rose free to snog her boyfriend whenever Hermione turns away.

As her cousin's lips meet her… friend? mate? crush? … whatever's lips every few minutes, her stomach churns and she feels sick. For the first in… forever, Dominique pushes away her plate and excuses herself quietly, walking to the bathroom upstairs before vomiting.

Only Victoire notices the wrongness in Scorpius' eyes that night.

x

**AUGUST**

He finds her on the roof one night, like usual. She's sitting too close to the bottom of the roof, her long legs dangling dangerously over the edge, and he crawls over and grabs her, pulling her to a safer distance. "What the bloody hell, 'Nique?" he grumbles angrily, his hand still gripping her arm.

"Sorry, didn't know you _cared_," she spits back bitterly, eyes teary.

"What's gotten into you?" he asks, afraid of the answer.

"Nothing, Christ, Malfoy," Dominique replies, tears falling freely down her cheeks. They flame as she furiously wipes the moisture away, covering her face so that Scorpius can't see the weakness in her eyes.

Gently, he pulls her hands away, reveling in the beauty of her melancholy blue eyes. "In never realized before, you know," he whispers sadly. Dominique looks up at him, confused. "You're incandescent, and I never saw it until now."

Regrets thrown away, Dominique presses her lips harshly against his. Scorpius returns her kiss with fervor and pent up want, need, love, lust as he lays her back against the rough surface of the roof gently. Around them, an ordinary place becomes magical as their clothes are shed, their lips connected, emblazoned like fire.

"It's so unfair," Dominique cries angrily as they lay together, bare in the moon, Scorpius' arm thrown haphazardly around her waist in the twilight.

"Everything is," Scorpius sighs, his face buried in her strawberry hair.

"No, I mean, I can't even fall for the guy whose girlfriend's a bitch," she explains, smiling bittersweetly.

She hates how whenever something feels so damn right to her, it appears wrong to everyone else.

x

"I know you love him," Victoire says spontaneously one day, when Rose and Scorpius are out on some date or something, with Scorpius promising quietly to meet ''Nique at the special place that night. "I know you, Dom, and I know what you're like."

She doesn't even bother to argue with her older sister. She pretends to resent the vain, most gorgeous of the siblings, but her admiration often intercepts with her hatred. "How'd you figure it out?" Dominique sighs, knowing there is no stopping a Vic with an idea in her head.

"You smile now," Victoire says simply, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "Anyway, that's not that problem here."

Dominique raises and eyebrow and frowns. "It's not?"

"The problem is that either you end it with him," Victoire begins, "or I'll tell Rose."

The beautiful girl stands in shock at the ultimatum that it all falls down to. She knows her older sister too well to know that she wouldn't bluff about this. "How long do I have?" Dominique asks quietly, her stomach twisting.

"Do it tonight," Vic responds. Biting her lip, she steps forward hesitantly before taking her younger sister into her long, thin arms and squeezing the now-crying girl, putting her chin on top of Dominique's head. "This isn't about just me or just you," she whispers regretfully, "this is about _me_ not wanting _you_ to get hurt."

Dominique simply nods and buries her face in her sister's silvery-blonde hair.

x

"I'm not doing this anymore," Dominique says firmly when he meets her on the roof, already having rid herself of every tear in her body that day before he had come home. "I can't."

Scorpius gazes at her with anger and sadness in his eyes before reaching out and pulling her towards him, kissing her lips chastely and relishing the feeling of their bodies pressed together before letting her go forever. "I love you," he mumbles in her ear painfully, and she shuts her eyes tight. "Don't let anyone tell you I never did."

And with that, he lets go and she disappears into the night.

x

_five years later…_

She's clad in a princess-worthy, sky-blue dress that matches her eyes (without the innocence.) Her eyes stare out into the crowd - with the magnificent charm that Hermione'd cast, they were able to fit nearly a hundred people onto the roof.

As the music starts and the crowd falls into a hush, she turns to her side and meets _his _eyes, smiling sadly. He winks at her and shrugs, and they look away from each other knowingly. Somewhere in the crowd, Victoire sighs.

The older, wiser girl looks around the roof, the place that used to mean love and charm for her (now it's a place of loss.) For Rose and Scorpius, the magic of this special place is beginning.

(But for her, it's just been stolen.)

_and I won't lie  
__I wish it lasted a lifetime_


End file.
